Look into my eyes, pt. 2

I just realized something about the video I posted below that didn’t strike me at first. The Outlandish video takes the occupation of Palestine and presents it through the familiar tale of Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. However, the Israelis (and by extension Jews) are presented as wolves, whereas Palestinians are presented as humans.

Even when the children are lined up at a checkpoint, a young Jew is presented as a young wolf (who passes through the checkpoint easily). When our protagonist is dreaming about a peaceful coexistence, the Jew is presented as a wolf.

Perhaps the reason this didn’t strike me at first is because I’ve spent a lot of time looking into the texture and diversity of opinion within not just the Jewish community worldwide, but also within the Israeli community. The wolves thus just struck me as particularly aggressive racist Zionists, and not being representative of all Israelis and Jews (e.g., representing George W. Bush as a monkey doesn’t mean I believe all Americans, or even all Republicans, or even any one but Bush is a buffoon). But, on watching the video again, the wolf is repeatedly attached to the Jews, and only to Jews (even those who live in peace). Essentially, framing Jews as inherently aggressive, rabid, carnivorous, etc.

Whether or not the makers of the video intended this so outrageously or even subtly, it does strike me as blatant anti-Semitism, and is inexcusable. Our job, our role is to actively prevent perpetuation of precisely these kinds of stereotypes that do disservice to everyone.

  del.icio.us this!

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